The Haval M2 was the successor of the Great Wall Coolbear. The Coolbear debuted in 2009. It received heavy flak because it looked way too much like a first-generation Scion xB. Great Wall didn’t like that one bit, and in 2010 they came up with a redesigned version.
It was jacked-up, with a new front and rear, and it was positioned as a cross-car, with wide wheel arches and lots of black plastic cladding. Most importantly, it was moved from the Great Wall brand to the then-new Haval brand. So the Great Wall Coolbear became the Haval M2. The M2 received a facelift in 2012 and was manufactured until 2015. The car we have here is a post-facelift version.
The interior was largely unchanged from the Coolbear, and still looked similar to the Scion’s interior. It was a funky place, with a central dial atop the dashboard, large air vents, and a radio CD player in the center stack. The owner of this particular car added seat covers and a steering wheel cover.
The bench was loaded with boxes containing all sorts of home-decoration stuff, including parts for a shower. Thanks to its boxy shape, the Haval M2 has a lot of easy-to-use space inside.
The roof rails were factory standard. The Haval M2 was a front-wheel drive car. Power came from a naturally aspirated 1.5-liter gasoline engine with an output of 106 hp and 138 Nm. The M2 wasn’t a quick car: its top speed was 158 km/h and 0-100 took 11.9 seconds. Size: 4011/1744/1720, 2499.
Because of its troubled beginnings, the Haval M2 never sold in great numbers on the Chinese car market, and it is a very rare sight on the road today. The old motor doesn’t comply with the new emission standard in Beijing, so many have been scrapped or sold to other provinces. I always liked the M2, at the time, Great Wall was trying out all sorts of vehicles and brands, from sedans to tiny hatchbacks to their well-known SUVs.